The original image was shot on Kodachrome 64, Nikon F3, 300mm manual focus lens at Al Oeming Polar Park, Edmonton, Alberta, in 1986. This is a '2nd-generation' copy.
I think many of my Edmonton friends remember the Park.
Initially, the Park was known as the Alberta Game Farm and featured exotic wildlife. The late Al Oeming, a well known wildlife conservationist and zoologist took great pride in his 900 acres facility's open spaces and large compound for the animals. At its peak, the facility was believed to be the largest game farm in North America and also had breeding and research programs for rare and wild animals.
In the mid-1980's, the compound was renamed Polar Park, featuring only cold-climate species. However, in the 1990s, the park began to draw criticisms from a new generation of activists and animal right groups. As public's attitude towards animal captivity soured, the Park was closed in 1998.
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